Thursday, February 25, 2016

dog pack update

I
called the county sheriff's department earlier this week just to
confirm what I already knew, that there is no animal control in the
county. My only option, they said, was to call WCSPOT (Wharton
County Stray Pet Outreach Team). I didn't do that right away because
the last time I called them about five chihuahuas, one with puppies,
they wouldn't help out because they were at capacity. Fortunately,
my sheriff deputy neighbor found homes for them all, or perhaps he
got SPOT to help out after all. Anyway, I finally called them
yesterday.

I
hadn't seen the dogs since Monday (been raining), and haven't seen
the mother for days before that, and I walked along the edge of the
Wild Space looking for them and about halfway between my property and
the road, I saw the male that's been getting in my pond and tearing
things up and one puppy so I tossed a few firecrackers in their
direction (they were easily 20 yards away from me). A car with two
women pulled up on the road and yelled at me was I shooting those
dogs? That pissed me off. What was it to her? No, I hollered back,
I'm trying to scare them away with firecrackers, you want them, you
get them. She turned and spoke to the driver who said something I
could hear but not understand. I just shrugged and eventually they
drove on down the road and out of sight. A few minutes later I saw
them coming back in the direction they had come.

So
I called SPOT and was describing the dogs and their location and she
told me that they had picked up 6 puppies yesterday on Walter Rd.
that sounded like the dogs I was talking about. Sure enough, they
are those puppies so I told her they missed one. She said they would
see what they could do to get the last puppy and the adults and might
be calling me today about it. But not so far. I haven't seen the
puppy today but I did see both adults out in my absentee neighbor's
yard.

Anyway,
the 6 puppies are at the local vet that works with SPOT getting
evaluated and their shots and will be available for adoption. They
do look healthy.

For
those of you who may have thought that my attitude and response to
the dogs was less than compassionate, let me just say that I have
seen what a feral dog pack can do. When we first moved out here
there were a couple of feral dogs in this same area. The female had
two litters one after the other and she tried to move them into my
absent neighbor's backyard and under the house which I went to great
lengths to prevent them getting in there. Eventually the pack
consisted of about 6 adults and another litter of puppies. They
became bolder and more aggressive and I eventually had to rescue
another neighbor's terrified and screaming goat from being killed
that they had cornered and had already bitten several times. You can
read that story here.

I'm
glad that the puppies were caught and hope they get the last one and
the adults as well. A much better solution to someone finally having
enough and shooting them.

Yes, wild dogs can be a problem. I haven't had to deal with that, but I have been following your blog long enough to know that NO ONEhas any business pointing a finger at you for not showing compassion. I hope the other dogs get picked up and cared for. The criminals are the people who dumped them instead of taking care of them. Those are the ones who need to be criticized. Have a good day, Ellen.

Anyone who has dealt with feral dogs would never call you anything but cautious. My big brother was really hurt by one feral dog when he was young. He's a grown man today, and he remains terrified of dogs.

I'm glad the puppies were picked up. Let's hope the same goes for the parents and the pup that remains.

Sad when people abandon any pets. Years ago the county cattlemen's association put a reward on stray dogs.Now there are some no-kill shelters which help some. At the farm we have 11 cats, 3 were ones we chose to have.The rest just showed up. Lots of money to spay and neuter, along with shots and food.My heart melts when new critters arrive,but with lots of chickens, duck,rabbit and turkey it can seem like a buffet for them.In Iowa there are more feral cats than people.They are hazardous to songbird populations and disrupt many ecosystems.One dog my daughter spent over 700 bucks on only to have to put it down for seizures. When it had a siezure it went on a killing spree, taking out mostly chickens and other fowl.It attacked her one day and she had to make what seems like a rather harsh decision with small children around.She was in tears for days after.

Feral animals are a huge problem with no solution in sight. I've read where feral and domestic cats are responsible for killing something like 50 million birds a year. 50 million songs we will never hear. Good job in dealing with it.

It is not cool to have packs of feral dogs running around. Period. Good that the puppies have been taken in and will receive the socialization that they badly need. That needs to happen early but I think there is still time for them.

The pups really are cute, and they do deserve a better life. It's responsible people like you who need to be praised for taking the time and making the effort to deal with the consquences of irresponsible actions.

Another problem we're having across the state, and even in fancy north Houston suburbs are the feral hogs. As I understand it there's open season on them. If you ever have a feral hog problem, I can get you a podcast by an Aggie prof who is the hog expert, let me tell you. I know more about trapping and (ahem) dispatching hogs than I ever imagined I would.

I, too, am glad you got help with this situation. Here we rely on animal control to help, and I don't know what I'd do if there wasn't someone trained to take care of unleashed animals. We took in one cat and took another to the animal shelter, which is a godsend for animals. Those puppies are adorable and will hopefully be adopted for a totally different kind of life.